Hanging with my Homies…

A few guys from the Taxi Rank usually spend at least one day a week fishing off the south east coast of Bali…

They take what to me seem like rather fragile looking Balinese outriggers into the deeper waters offshore to fish for Red Snapper and Dorado (Mahe-Mahe), or Dolphin Fish as they are know in Australia…

Normally, only three fisherman at a time go out to sea in these narrow vessels, and having been out in the big swells that scour the coastline here, I do not see myself ever wanting to accompany them…

Traditional Balinese fishing boats, pulled high onto the beach at Jasri, Eastern Bali... Can you see yourself out of sight of land in one of these...?? Thought not...!!

Tales of these fishing “canoes” being swamped and overturned out there have kept any requests from me to join them, locked firmly in my mind and nowhere near my lips…

It's party time down at the Taxi rank... But beware...the Coke speaks with forked tongue...!!

After a particularly successful day out on the high seas, where my friends caught three very large Red Snapper, they invited me to join them as their special guest at a fish BBQ at their taxi rank…

By the time I got there, the fish had already been cleaned and gutted, cut into large chunks, and placed between the blades of various griddles…

Coconut husks were blazing brightly in one half of a large oil drum, as well as in the concrete well that usually acted as a dustbin at the rank…

Apart from making Arak, and rendering unwary passersby unconcious, Coconuts have other uses too...!!

Unsure if there was to be any alcoholic beverages on offer, as the BBQ was being held in the very public area at the base of the Campuhan Steps, I arrived carrying two bottles of Lipton Iced Tea, and was immediately made fun of…

“Suwastiastu (Welcome) Ronnie…!! What are you carrying there…??” they asked, “Have you brought a child with you…??”

I pointed to the half dozen bottles of 2 litre Cokes that were standing on the platform, and said,

“Ibu Patricia has requested that I refrain from drinking too much Coke, so I brought these…!!”

“Ah, but those bottles do not contain the Coke that you will find at the Bintang, my friend…!!”

It takes more than one chef to cook a big fish here in Bali...

One of the group then proceeded to pour a glass of their “Coke” into a plastic cup and handed it to me with a flourish and a sly smile…

“Drink…!!” he demanded rather than suggested…

I tilted the cup back and swallowed half its contents, immediately regretting that I had been so courageous…

Cheers from all present greeted the look of surprise that had come over my face…

“It is called Arak, made from coconut juice and some other things…!!” I was told…

“Any chance those “other things” include battery acid and brake fluid…??” I spluttered…

“Ha…!! The Arak from our village is a bit stronger than others, but it is good, yes…??”

After a few smaller sips, I had to agree that it wasn’t bad at all… Sweet and strong flavoured, heating up my belly in no time flat…

I turned my attention to the fish that was sizzling behind me, mainly to avoid my cup being filled up again before I had eaten something to dilute the effects of the Arak…!!

I noticed that the Snapper they had proudly shown me photos of was being prepared in three different ways…

Chunks of Red Snapper cooked over an open fire, while others were stuffed inside lengths of bamboo...

The majority was being roasted over the open fire, while smaller chunks had been stuffed into the hollow sections of a short bamboo pole… The poles were standing directly in the flames, their ends plugged with banana leaves to keep the moisture in…

Other even smaller pieces of fish had been wrapped in banana leaves, and the little packages were in turn laid on an open banana leaf and placed on a metal grill…

A simple yet delicious meal... The rice lightly garnished with "Mother-in-Law Exterminator Sauce"...

Once the various chefs had decided that the fish was ready for general consumption, I was presented with a small parcel of rice, cleverly wrapped in brown wax-proof paper. The parcel contained a chunk of sticky white rice, and once opened, the paper would act as a “plate”…

A bowl of finely chopped chillies was handed to me with instructions to “be careful…this is very strong sauce”…

And so it was…!! Using my hands to roll some rice into a tight ball, I dipped it in the chili sauce, popped it into my mouth and waited for the taste to manifest itself… As I recall, I did not have too long to wait… Three seconds maybe…!! Sweat popped unbidden onto my forehead, while the top of my head felt as though a flame had been ignited there…!!

For the second time that evening, peals of laughter greeted my comical discomfort…!!

I hurried over to get some fish into my mouth, avoiding taking a quick slug of Arak to put out the fire that raged on my tongue… I can be a fast learner at times, you see…!!

The fish that had been cooked in the banana leaves was by far the softest and juiciest, while that which came from the bamboo pole was a little drier…

The remainder had been roasted to perfection, and I altogether thoroughly enjoyed the simple meal shared with my Balinese friends…

We squatted on the concrete apron in front of the Campuhan Steps, eating with our hands, laughing and joking, ignoring the strange looks we got from the many Westerners that came and went while we partied…

One of the guys had hooked his laptop up to some small speakers, and a mix of both traditional and pop music played while we ate…

We discussed politics, religion, and the many symbolic ceremonies performed by Balinese on a daily basis… We agreed that more spiritualism and less dogmatic constraints that many religions bring to our lives would be a good thing…

They had a very different explanation for the Western saying that “only the good die young”… They told me that to die young, meant that you had very little to atone for in your previous life… It was generally agreed that I had clearly been a “very bad man” in my previous life, and that was why I was still alive and kicking…!! I was told that although I had a ticket to heaven, my visa had not yet been granted…!!

Hanging with my friends of the Penestanan Taxi Association...

A bright half-moon hung above me as I downed my third cup of Arak, firmly rejecting the offer of another, believing that a fourth would probably see me stretched full length in a rice paddy before the night was out…

I bid my friends goodbye, and began the long climb up the Campuhan Steps, convinced that the buggers had multiplied while I had been partying at the bottom of them…!!

I made my way somewhat unsteadily down the narrow paths, collecting spider webs as I walked, and cursing the fact that I had forgotten to take a flashlight with me…

Made’s Warung was in complete darkness as I passed between the tables, using the usual short cut to get to the path that ran to the villa’s front door… They say the night is darkest just before you step on the cat, and knowing that there were usually a few lurking around these parts, I kept half an eye out for them…!!

I let Sadie off her leash and watched as she ran off into the darkness…

“Be back before midnight…!!” I shouted after her before closing the sliding doors behind me and making my way over to the spare bed downstairs…

I lay down to rest my eyes before attempting the climb to the upstairs bedroom, and awoke what seemed like only minutes later, with sunlight streaming through the windows, and Sadie scratching at the front door…

I never did get to find out if she had made curfew or not…

 ©GBWT 2011